[RESOLVED] Recursively searching array for specific string

[kilbey1]

Simply put, I'd like to find a string such as '508429' in an array. The string is not strictly '508429', but would be 508429_501_21.jpg, 508429_601_18.jpg, etc. - multiple occurences are possible. I found a great function that recursively scans through a directory structure; I've attached it here, and it results in the following output.

Array ( [0] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder [name] => IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder [kind] => directory [content] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/541526_501_22.jpg [name] => 541526_501_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 23347 [kind] => file ) [1] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/541528_301_22.jpg [name] => 541528_301_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 25134 [kind] => file ) [2] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/547669_201_22.jpg [name] => 547669_201_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 16157 [kind] => file ) [3] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/547669_301_22.jpg [name] => 547669_301_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 13033 [kind] => file ) [4] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/547669_401_22.jpg [name] => 547669_401_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 12908 [kind] => file ) [5] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/547669_501_22.jpg [name] => 547669_501_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 10511 [kind] => file ) [6] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/547669_601_22.jpg [name] => 547669_601_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 11932 [kind] => file ) [7] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/547669_701_22.jpg [name] => 547669_701_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 16363 [kind] => file ) [8] => Array ( [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/547669_801_22.jpg [name] => 547669_801_22.jpg [extension] => jpg [size] => 16395 [kind] => file ) .....

How can I get all instances of 508429 out of this? I do realize I want to extract this info from the [name] element. I have tried in_array and strstr, but am likely misapplying them in this instance, since nothing outputs in my tests.

And yes, I have verified that 508429 does exist in the array. Thanks!

[kilbey1]

So I have made some progress on this using the following code:

foreach($filestructure as $key => $value){ 
	//echo $key." - ".$value."<br />";
	foreach($value as $key2 => $val){ 

	echo $key2." - ".$val."<br />";
	//this gets the 'name' key and outputs value - save for later
	/*
	if($key2 == 'name') {
		echo $key2." - ".$val."<br />";	
	}
	*/


}	
echo "<p />";
}

However, it only outputs part of the array, because an Array is used as a value. How do I dig deeper (in this case, into 'content')?

Output:

path - ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder
name - IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder
kind - directory
content - Array

path - ../idx/MF20051106_164046_RES_1.txt
name - MF20051106_164046_RES_1.txt
extension - txt
size - 134047
kind - file

path - ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_1 Folder
name - IF20051106_164046_RES_1 Folder
kind - directory
content - Array

path - ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_2 Folder
name - IF20051106_164046_RES_2 Folder
kind - directory
content - Array

[LordShryku]

Doing specific foreach statements will only work if you know how deep the array will go. For dynamic depths, you'll need a recursive function to callback.

For example:

$results = array();
$search  = '541528';
search_elements($array, $search);
print_r($results);

function search_elements($array, $string) {
   global $results;
   foreach($array as $key => $val) {
      if(is_array($val))
         search_elements($val, $string);
      else {
         if(strpos($val, $string) !== false)
            $results[] = array($key => $val);
      }
   }
}

[kilbey1]

I tried this first in the way you presented it, and it's giving me an empty array.
I then tried this:

function search_elements($array, $string) { 
   global $results; 
   foreach($array as $key => $val) { 
      if(is_array($val)) 
         search_elements($val, $string); 
      else { 
         if(strpos($val, $string) !== false) 
            $results[] = array($key => $val); 
      } 
   } 
} 

$search  = '508429'; 
$results = search_elements($filestructure, $search); 
print_r($results); 

This returns nothing.

[LordShryku]

Well, it was an example, and was untested. Unchanged though, it did work for me.

$array = Array (
   0 => Array (
      'path'    => '../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder',
      'name'    => 'IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder',
      'kind'    => 'directory',
      'content' => Array (
         0 => Array (
            'path'      => '../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/541526_501_22.jpg',
            'name'      => '541526_501_22.jpg',
            'extension' => 'jpg',
            'size'      => 23347,
            'kind'      => 'file'
         ),
         1 => Array (
            'path'      => '../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/541528_301_22.jpg',
            'name'      => '541528_301_22.jpg',
            'extension' => 'jpg',
            'size'      => 25134,
            'kind'      => 'file'
         )
      )
   ),
   1 => Array (
      'path'      => '../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/541528_301_23.jpg',
      'name'      => '541528_301_23.jpg',
      'extension' => 'jpg',
      'size'      => 25134,
      'kind'      => 'file'
   )
);


$results = array();
$search  = '541528';
search_elements($array, $search);
print_r($results);

function search_elements($array, $string) {
   global $results;

   foreach($array as $key => $val) {
      if(is_array($val))
         search_elements($val, $string);
      else {
         if(strpos($val, $string) !== false)
            $results[] = array($key => $val);
      }
   }
}

aaron@junkiexl <(hacks)> # php phpb.php
Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/541528_301_22.jpg
        )

[1] => Array
    (
        [name] => 541528_301_22.jpg
    )

[2] => Array
    (
        [path] => ../idx/IF20051106_164046_RES_21 Folder/541528_301_23.jpg
    )

[3] => Array
    (
        [name] => 541528_301_23.jpg
    )

)

[kilbey1]

I figured your code was fine. But it seems logical I should be able to pull from $filestructure using $filestructure = scan_directory_recursively('../idx/'), since a print_r($filestructure); outputs the same array structure as your $array. And yet, I get no output this way.

On another note, here's why I want to do this, and you may know of a better way to handle this apart from an array.

I have data in a sql database, where a ListingNumber is present - example: 541528. I then will compare this listing number to any filename present in the directory that contains 541528, and display all images available. There are thousands and thousands of images - in one sampling of 21 directories, 4000 files were in each directory. Is it the faster to:
a. leave images in the directory and recurse through the directory to find the appropriate files
b. store images in database as BLOB and pull from db
c. store path in db and leave images in directories, pulling paths from database instead

[LordShryku]

For that type of application, I've always put the paths to the images in the database. If you wanted my opinion, that's what I would do.

[kilbey1]

Thanks. I did manage to recursively go through the directory and find what I needed, knowing how deep my array is going to be. I think I will work with implode/explode and try to put these babies into a database.

My solution to wrap up this thread:

foreach($filestructure as $key => $value){ 
	foreach($value as $key2 => $val){ 

			if($key2 == 'content') {
				$path = $value['path'];
				$filestructure = scan_directory_recursively($path);

				foreach($filestructure as $key3 => $val3){
					$key = $val3['name'];
					if (strstr($key, '508429')) { 
					   echo $val3['name']." - ".$val3['path']."<br />"; 
					} 

				}

			}
}	
echo "<p />";
}